Hello everyone and welcome back to our Monday Night Raw recap!
This is the last Raw before Clash at the Castle! As of right now there is not a Women’s World Title booked on the card nor does it look like there will be one.
Liv Morgan’s focus since retaining her title against Becky Lynch in a steel cage has been on Judgment Day, in particular Dominik Mysterio.
First piece of women’s action shows Liv following up on her attempts to seduce Dominik Mysterio, this week by slipping her hotel key card into his pocket. There’s nothing coy about it, Liv is straight up inviting Dom to jump her bones, an invitation he clearly wants to take Morgan up on.
“A gorgeous man like you shouldn’t be with a woman who makes you call her Mami, a gorgeous man like you should be with a girl who calls you Daddy.” – Ms. Morgan
Lyra Valkyria vs. Iyo Sky
QOTR rematch between these two and we’re off to quick start right away, with Iyo being the aggressor right out the gate. The frustration Iyo’s feeling is palpable as she tries to make short work of the former NXT champion with Valkyria proving she’s no fluke. These two have great chemistry with each other for barely working with one another. I wouldn’t say this match reached the heights of their QOTR qualifier (not bad by any means) but we did see firmly established alignments with Damage Control interfering on Iyo’s behalf and Sky ultimately resulting to dirty tactics for the win.
Winner: Iyo Sky
After the match, Iyo can’t leave Lyra be and delivers a post match beat down as Dakota and Kairi look on confused – like sis, we just won, no? Kayden Carter & Katana Chance run down to make the save which I’m all for! We should get some interesting match combinations between these teams.
Liv came out during Dominik’s tag match against the LWO for some more sexual chicanery. Morgan jumped on the apron to once again try and seduce Dom Dom. The pair exchanged glances until Zelina Vega made her presence known, knocking Liv off the apron and onto Dom’s lap into a straddling position. I’ve seen this exact scene so many times in anime and the effect they were going for definitely translated. Morgan and Vega then got into a short brawl. This could hint that Vega will be Morgan’s first challenger (at least until Mami comes back).
Backstage segment with Damage Control, Iyo looks beyond frustrated despite her victory earlier tonight against Lyra. Sky did a great job emoting how she was trying to hold back her rage, expressing frustration before slipping into chaos stating “Damage Control needs to change.”
Sonya & Nattie cameo backstage in a blink and you miss it moment, at least they looked great. They were clearly discussing what Nattie wanted to speak to Sony about last week.
Tag Team Champions, Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair are out next in matching sequin outfits, and it really is those small touches.
Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn vs. Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark
Before the match we got an interview from Alba & Isla hyping up their tag team title match for this Sunday at Clash. Happy for them they’re getting to perform in their home country! That’s where the good news ends for Alba & Isla though bc Shayna is feeling a certain type of way after her loss to Lola last night.
Shayna walked into the match with a dark cloud of bad booking hovering over her, squashing Alba & Isla (yes, the challengers for the tag team titles at Clash) in the process. I don’t use the word squash flippantly but this did absolutely nothing for Alba & Isla. And I know just last night I was complaining about Shayna losing to Vice in a match that should’ve been a foregone conclusion but two bad booking decisions doesn’t make a good one. Yes, Shayna did come out of the tag match last night the best she’s looked since her 2020 main roster debut but it made Alba in particular look like fodder. Whatever. This is the direction they were given, everyone played their role well, just not a fan of the creative here.
Winner: Shayna & Zoey
We are getting a triple threat for the tag titles at Clash, which makes the match a bit more unpredictable as that would be an easy out to get the belts off Jade & Bianca. Not crazy about how we got here but with SummerSlam looming, I’m curious if we’re going to get Jade vs. Bianca this soon or if they’re going to build it further down the line.
Another criticism against creative, the lack of challengers for Liv Morgan. I understand the story being built here is between Liv & Rhea, but this was the exact same issue I had with Rhea’s reign. Hopefully this means Rhea’s coming back sooner rather than later.
Middle of the road Raw for me last night, but after Clash we’re gearing up for MITB!! Sound off with which qualifiers you’re hoping to see starting next week!
